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Broadening Privacy and Surveillance: Eliciting Interconnected Values with a Scenarios Workbook on Smart Home Cameras

Richmond Y. Wong, Jason Caleb Valdez, Ashten Alexander, Ariel Chiang, Olivia Quesada, James Pierce

TL;DR

This paper investigates privacy and surveillance concerns in smart home cameras by using a design workbook of speculative scenarios to elicit values from 14 participants. It reveals that participants discuss a broad set of interconnected social values—autonomy, safety, property rights, trust, fairness—beyond privacy alone, highlighting the entangled nature of these issues. The study argues for reframing ethical inquiry in smart homes from privacy per se to entangled values and emphasizes the fluidity of primary versus non-primary user roles. These insights have practical implications for designing and researching smart-home systems that respect diverse stakeholders and power dynamics, suggesting a more holistic, care-ethics-informed approach.

Abstract

We use a design workbook of speculative scenarios as a values elicitation activity with 14 participants. The workbook depicts use case scenarios with smart home camera technologies that involve surveillance and uneven power relations. The scenarios were initially designed by the researchers to explore scenarios of privacy and surveillance within three social relationships involving "primary" and "non-primary" users: Parents-Children, Landlords-Tenants, and Residents-Domestic Workers. When the scenarios were utilized as part of a values elicitation activity with participants, we found that they reflected on a broader set of interconnected social values beyond privacy and surveillance, including autonomy and agency, physical safety, property rights, trust and accountability, and fairness. The paper suggests that future research about ethical issues in smart homes should conceptualize privacy as interconnected with a broader set of social values (which can align or be in tension with privacy), and reflects on considerations for doing research with non-primary users.

Broadening Privacy and Surveillance: Eliciting Interconnected Values with a Scenarios Workbook on Smart Home Cameras

TL;DR

This paper investigates privacy and surveillance concerns in smart home cameras by using a design workbook of speculative scenarios to elicit values from 14 participants. It reveals that participants discuss a broad set of interconnected social values—autonomy, safety, property rights, trust, fairness—beyond privacy alone, highlighting the entangled nature of these issues. The study argues for reframing ethical inquiry in smart homes from privacy per se to entangled values and emphasizes the fluidity of primary versus non-primary user roles. These insights have practical implications for designing and researching smart-home systems that respect diverse stakeholders and power dynamics, suggesting a more holistic, care-ethics-informed approach.

Abstract

We use a design workbook of speculative scenarios as a values elicitation activity with 14 participants. The workbook depicts use case scenarios with smart home camera technologies that involve surveillance and uneven power relations. The scenarios were initially designed by the researchers to explore scenarios of privacy and surveillance within three social relationships involving "primary" and "non-primary" users: Parents-Children, Landlords-Tenants, and Residents-Domestic Workers. When the scenarios were utilized as part of a values elicitation activity with participants, we found that they reflected on a broader set of interconnected social values beyond privacy and surveillance, including autonomy and agency, physical safety, property rights, trust and accountability, and fairness. The paper suggests that future research about ethical issues in smart homes should conceptualize privacy as interconnected with a broader set of social values (which can align or be in tension with privacy), and reflects on considerations for doing research with non-primary users.
Paper Structure (31 sections, 12 figures, 3 tables)

This paper contains 31 sections, 12 figures, 3 tables.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Related Work
  3. Values & Ethics, Primary & Non-Primary Users, and Smart Home Technologies
  4. Conceptualizing Privacy
  5. Design Futuring Methods
  6. Design Workbooks and Values Elicitation
  7. Scenario Literature that Motivates Our Approach
  8. Developing the Scenarios Workbook
  9. Scenarios in the Workbook Study
  10. Study Methods
  11. Cultural Context of the Study
  12. Findings: Eliciting Participants' Values Reflections on the Scenarios
  13. Privacy and Surveillance
  14. Autonomy and Agency
  15. Physical Safety & Care
  16. ...and 16 more sections

Figures (12)

  • Figure 1: We explored different levels of detail, for instance, single-image snapshots (left) versus multi-frame storyboards (right). Ultimately we decided to create single-image snapshot scenarios.
  • Figure 2: Detailed view of the Drone Parents scenario shown to participants.
  • Figure 3: Detailed view of the Approved Access Only scenario shown to participants.
  • Figure 4: Detailed view of the Mood Check scenario shown to participants
  • Figure 5: Earlier in our process, we explored many different themes and scenarios ranging from counter-surveillance tactics to futuristic new smart home technologies.
  • ...and 7 more figures